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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Gradient-Based Edge Detection Using Nonlinear Edge-Enhancing Prefilters, Russell Hardie, Charles Boncelet May 2015

Gradient-Based Edge Detection Using Nonlinear Edge-Enhancing Prefilters, Russell Hardie, Charles Boncelet

Russell C. Hardie

This correspondence examines the use of nonlinear edge enhancers as prefilters for edge detectors. The filters are able to convert smooth edges to step edges and suppress noise simultaneously. Thus, false alarms due to noise are minimized and edge gradient estimates tend to be large and localized. This leads to significantly improved edge maps.


Ranking In Rp And Its Use In Multivariate Image Estimation, Russell Hardie, Gonzalo Arce May 2015

Ranking In Rp And Its Use In Multivariate Image Estimation, Russell Hardie, Gonzalo Arce

Russell C. Hardie

The extension of ranking a set of elements in R to ranking a set of vectors in a p'th dimensional space Rp is considered. In the approach presented here vector ranking reduces to ordering vectors according to a sorted list of vector distances. A statistical analysis of this vector ranking is presented, and these vector ranking concepts are then used to develop ranked-order type estimators for multivariate image fields. A class of vector filters is developed, which are efficient smoothers in additive noise and can be designed to have detail-preserving characteristics. A statistical analysis is developed for the class of …


Lum Filters: A Class Of Rank-Order-Based Filters For Smoothing And Sharpening, Russell Hardie, Charles Boncelet May 2015

Lum Filters: A Class Of Rank-Order-Based Filters For Smoothing And Sharpening, Russell Hardie, Charles Boncelet

Russell C. Hardie

A new class of rank-order-based filters, called lower-upper-middle (LUM) filters, is introduced. The output of these filters is determined by comparing a lower- and an upper-order statistic to the middle sample in the filter window. These filters can be designed for smoothing and sharpening, or outlier rejection. The level of smoothing done by the filter can range from no smoothing to that of the medianfilter. This flexibility allows the LUM filter to be designed to best balance the tradeoffs between noisesmoothing and signal detail preservation. LUM filters for enhancing edge gradients can be designed to be insensitive to low levels …


Spectral Band Selection And Classifier Design For A Multispectral Imaging Laser Radar, Russell Hardie, Mohan Vaidyanathan, Paul Mcmanamon May 2015

Spectral Band Selection And Classifier Design For A Multispectral Imaging Laser Radar, Russell Hardie, Mohan Vaidyanathan, Paul Mcmanamon

Russell C. Hardie

A statistical spectral band selection procedure and classifiers for an active multispectral laser radar (LADAR) sensor are described. The sensor will operate in the 1 to 5 mm wavelength region. The algorithms proposed are tested using library reflectance spectra for some representative background materials. The material classes considered include both natural (vegetation and soil) and man-made (camouflage cloth and tar-asphalt). The analysis includes noise statistics due to Gaussian receiver noise and target induced speckle variations in the LADAR return signal intensity. The results of this analysis are then directly applied to an artificially generated spatial template of a scene consisting …


Super-Resolution Using Adaptive Wiener Filters, Russell C. Hardie May 2015

Super-Resolution Using Adaptive Wiener Filters, Russell C. Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

The spatial sampling rate of an imaging system is determined by the spacing of the detectors in the focal plane array (FPA). The spatial frequencies present in the image on the focal plane are band-limited by the optics. This is due to diffraction through a finite aperture. To guarantee that there will be no aliasing during image acquisiton, the Nyquist criterion dictates that the sampling rate must be greater than twice the cut-off frequency of the optics. However, optical designs involve a number of trade-offs and typical imaging systems are designed with some level of aliasing. We will refer to …


Hybrid Order Statistic Filter And Its Application To Image Restoration, Elizabeth Thompson, Russell Hardie, Kenneth Barner May 2015

Hybrid Order Statistic Filter And Its Application To Image Restoration, Elizabeth Thompson, Russell Hardie, Kenneth Barner

Russell C. Hardie

We introduce a new nonlinear filter for signal and image restoration, the hybrid order statistic (HOS) filter. Because it exploits both rank- and spatial-order information, the HOS realizes the advantages of nonlinear filters in edge preservation and reduction of impulsive noise components while retaining the ability of the linear filter to suppress Gaussian noise. We show that the HOS filter exhibits improved performance over both the linear Wiener and the nonlinear L filters in reducing mean-squared error in the presence of contaminated Gaussian noise. In many cases it also performs favorably compared with the Ll and rank-conditioned rank selection filters.


Application Of Multi-Frame High-Resolution Image Reconstruction To Digital Microscopy, Frank Baxley, Russell Hardie May 2015

Application Of Multi-Frame High-Resolution Image Reconstruction To Digital Microscopy, Frank Baxley, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A high-resolution image reconstruction algorithm previously used to improve undersampled infrared airborne imagery was applied to two different sets of digital microscopy images. One set is that of medical pap smear images, and the second set contains metallurgical micrographs. Both the pap smear images and the metallurgical micrographs are undersampled, thus causing loss of detail and aliasing artifacts. The algorithm minimizes the effects of aliasing and restores detail unobtainable through simple interpolation techniques. Both applications demonstrate improvement by use of the image reconstruction algorithm.


Robust Phase-Unwrapping Algorithm Using A Spatial Binary-Tree Image Decomposition, Russell Hardie, Md. Younus, James Blackshire May 2015

Robust Phase-Unwrapping Algorithm Using A Spatial Binary-Tree Image Decomposition, Russell Hardie, Md. Younus, James Blackshire

Russell C. Hardie

The search for fast and robust phase-unwrapping algorithms remains an important problem in the development of real-time interferometric systems. Our phase-unwrapping approach uses a spatial binary-tree image decomposition to permit maximum parallelism in implementation. At each node in the tree structure, a single unwrapping decision is made between two image blocks. The unwrapping rule is derived from a statistical-estimation framework. Specifically, a maximum-likelihood estimate of the demodulation term is used. This term can be viewed as that which minimizes a discontinuity-penalizing cost function. We show that the algorithm exhibits a high level of robustness. Quantitative measures of performance are provided, …


Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction With Video Sequences And Registration, Russell Hardie, Majeed Hayat, Ernest Armstrong, Brian Yasuda May 2015

Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction With Video Sequences And Registration, Russell Hardie, Majeed Hayat, Ernest Armstrong, Brian Yasuda

Russell C. Hardie

We describe a new, to our knowledge, scene-based nonuniformity correction algorithm for array detectors. The algorithm relies on the ability to register a sequence of observed frames in the presence of the fixed-pattern noise caused by pixel-to-pixel nonuniformity. In low-to-moderate levels of nonuniformity, sufficiently accurate registration may be possible with standard scene-based registration techniques. If the registration is accurate, and motion exists between the frames, then groups of independent detectors can be identified that observe the same irradiance ~or true scene value!. These detector outputs are averaged to generate estimates of the true scene values. With these scene estimates, and …


Techniques For The Regeneration Of Wideband Speech From Narrowband Speech, Jason A. Fuemmeler, Russell C. Hardie, William R. Gardner May 2015

Techniques For The Regeneration Of Wideband Speech From Narrowband Speech, Jason A. Fuemmeler, Russell C. Hardie, William R. Gardner

Russell C. Hardie

This paper addresses the problem of reconstructing wideband speech signals from observed narrowband speech signals. The goal of this work is to improve the perceived quality of speech signals which have been transmitted through narrowband channels or degraded during acquisition. We describe a system, based on linear predictive coding, for estimating wideband speech from narrowband. This system employs both previously identified and novel techniques. Experimental results are provided in order to illustrate the system’s ability to improve speech quality. Both objective and subjective criteria are used to evaluate the quality of the processed speech signals.


A Post-Processing Technique For Extending Depth Of Focus In Conventional Optical Microscopy, Taufiq Widjanarko, Russell Hardie May 2015

A Post-Processing Technique For Extending Depth Of Focus In Conventional Optical Microscopy, Taufiq Widjanarko, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

In this paper, we propose a post-processing technique to obtain optical microscope images with extended depth of focus using a conventional microscope. With the proposed technique, we collect a sequence of images focused at different depths. We then combine the in-focus regions of each acquired frame to compose a single all-in-focus image. That is, a new image with extended depth of focus is obtained. The key to such an algorithm is in selecting the “in-focus” regions from each frame. In this paper, we describe the technique used to identify the in-focus region on every depth slice. Quantitative simulation results are …


Application Of The Stochastic Mixing Model To Hyperspectral Resolution Enhancement, Michael Eismann, Russell Hardie May 2015

Application Of The Stochastic Mixing Model To Hyperspectral Resolution Enhancement, Michael Eismann, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation method is described for enhancing the spatial resolution of a hyperspectral image using a higher resolution coincident panchromatic image. The approach makes use of a stochastic mixing model (SMM) of the underlying spectral scene content to develop a cost function that simultaneously optimizes the estimated hyperspectral scene relative to the observed hyperspectral and panchromatic imagery, as well as the local statistics of the spectral mixing model. The incorporation of the stochastic mixing model is found to be the key ingredient for reconstructing subpixel spectral information in that it provides the necessary constraints that lead …


An Algebraic Algorithm For Nonuniformity Correction In Focal-Plane Arrays, Bradley Ratliff, Majeed Hayat, Russell Hardie May 2015

An Algebraic Algorithm For Nonuniformity Correction In Focal-Plane Arrays, Bradley Ratliff, Majeed Hayat, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A scene-based algorithm is developed to compensate for bias nonuniformity in focal-plane arrays. Nonuniformity can be extremely problematic, especially for mid- to far-infrared imaging systems. The technique is based on use of estimates of interframe subpixel shifts in an image sequence, in conjunction with a linear-interpolation model for the motion, to extract information on the bias nonuniformity algebraically. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed by using real infrared and simulated data. One advantage of this technique is its simplicity; it requires relatively few frames to generate an effective correction matrix, thereby permitting the execution of frequent on-the-fly nonuniformity …


Subspace Partition Weighted Sum Filters For Image Restoration, Yong Lin, Russell Hardie, Kenneth Barner May 2015

Subspace Partition Weighted Sum Filters For Image Restoration, Yong Lin, Russell Hardie, Kenneth Barner

Russell C. Hardie

The previously proposed partition-based weighted sum (PWS) filters combine vector quantization (VQ) and linear finite impulse response (FIR) Wiener filtering concepts. By partitioning the observation space and applying a tuned Wiener filter to each partition, the PWS is spatially adaptive and has been shown to perform well in noise reduction applications. In this letter, we propose the subspace PWS (SPWS) filter and evaluate the efficacy of the SPWS filter in image deconvolution and noise reduction applications. In the SPWS filter, we project the observation vectors into a subspace using principal component analysis (PCA), or other methods, prior to partitioning. This …


A Fast Image Super-Resolution Algorithm Using An Adaptive Wiener Filter, Russell C. Hardie May 2015

A Fast Image Super-Resolution Algorithm Using An Adaptive Wiener Filter, Russell C. Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A computationally simple super-resolution algorithm using a type of adaptive Wiener filter is proposed. The algorithm produces an improved resolution image from a sequence of low-resolution (LR) video frames with overlapping field of view. The algorithm uses subpixel registration to position each LR pixel value on a common spatial grid that is referenced to the average position of the input frames. The positions of the LR pixels are not quantized to a finite grid as with some previous techniques. The output high-resolution (HR) pixels are obtained using a weighted sum of LR pixels in a local moving window. Using a …


Hyperspectral Resolution Enhancement Using High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery With Arbitrary Response Functions, Michael Eismann, Russell Hardie May 2015

Hyperspectral Resolution Enhancement Using High-Resolution Multispectral Imagery With Arbitrary Response Functions, Michael Eismann, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation method for improving the spatial resolution of a hyperspectral image using a higher resolution auxiliary image is extended to address several practical remote sensing situations. These include cases where: 1) the spectral response of the auxiliary image is unknown and does not match that of the hyperspectral image; 2) the auxiliary image is multispectral; and 3) the spatial point spread function for the hyperspectral sensor is arbitrary and extends beyond the span of the detector elements. The research presented follows a previously reported MAP approach that makes use of a stochastic mixing model (SMM) …


Improved Optimization Of Soft Partition Weighted Sum Filters And Their Application To Image Restoration, Yong Lin, Russell Hardie, Qin Sheng, Kenneth Barner May 2015

Improved Optimization Of Soft Partition Weighted Sum Filters And Their Application To Image Restoration, Yong Lin, Russell Hardie, Qin Sheng, Kenneth Barner

Russell C. Hardie

Soft-partition-weighted-sum (Soft-PWS) filters are a class of spatially adaptive moving-window filters for signal and image restoration. Their performance is shown to be promising. However, optimization of the Soft-PWS filters has received only limited attention. Earlier work focused on a stochastic-gradient method that is computationally prohibitive in many applications. We describe a novel radial basis function interpretation of the Soft-PWS filters and present an efficient optimization procedure. We apply the filters to the problem of noise reduction. The experimental results show that the Soft-PWS filter outperforms the standard partition-weighted-sum filter and the Wiener filter.


Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction With Reduced Ghosting Using A Gated Lms Algorithm, Russell C. Hardie, Frank Orion Baxley, Brandon J. Brys, Patrick C. Hytla May 2015

Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction With Reduced Ghosting Using A Gated Lms Algorithm, Russell C. Hardie, Frank Orion Baxley, Brandon J. Brys, Patrick C. Hytla

Russell C. Hardie

In this paper, we present a scene-based nouniformity correction (NUC) method using a modified adaptive least mean square (LMS) algorithm with a novel gating operation on the updates. The gating is designed to significantly reduce ghosting artifacts produced by many scene-based NUC algorithms by halting updates when temporal variation is lacking. We define the algorithm and present a number of experimental results to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in comparison to several previously published methods including other LMS and constant statistics based methods. The experimental results include simulated imagery and a real infrared image sequence. We show that …


Super-Resolution For Imagery From Integrated Microgrid Polarimeters, Russell C. Hardie, Daniel A. Lemaster, Bradley Michael Ratliff May 2015

Super-Resolution For Imagery From Integrated Microgrid Polarimeters, Russell C. Hardie, Daniel A. Lemaster, Bradley Michael Ratliff

Russell C. Hardie

Imagery from microgrid polarimeters is obtained by using a mosaic of pixel-wise micropolarizers on a focal plane array (FPA). Each distinct polarization image is obtained by subsampling the full FPA image. Thus, the effective pixel pitch for each polarization channel is increased and the sampling frequency is decreased. As a result, aliasing artifacts from such undersampling can corrupt the true polarization content of the scene. Here we present the first multi-channel multi-frame super-resolution (SR) algorithms designed specifically for the problem of image restoration in microgrid polarization imagers. These SR algorithms can be used to address aliasing and other degradations, without …


Joint Wavelet Transform Correlation With Separated Target And Reference Planes, Boon Yi Soon, Mohammad A. Karim, Russell C. Hardie, Mohammad S. Alam May 2015

Joint Wavelet Transform Correlation With Separated Target And Reference Planes, Boon Yi Soon, Mohammad A. Karim, Russell C. Hardie, Mohammad S. Alam

Russell C. Hardie

In recent years, we realize the usefulness of feature extraction for optical correlator and hereby, we investigate the capability of Laplace operator in feature extraction of multiple targets. The first-order terms and the false alarm terms in the correlation output would be removed using electronic power spectrum subtraction technique. Most importantly, the entire magneto-optic SLM is completely utilized for displaying only targets in the input scene. A new cost efficient hardware implementation is proposed and aforementioned result of the proposed system is evaluated through computer simulation.


Partition-Based Interpolation For Color Filter Array Demosaicking And Super-Resolution Reconstruction, Min Shao, Kenneth E. Barner, Russell C. Hardie Mar 2015

Partition-Based Interpolation For Color Filter Array Demosaicking And Super-Resolution Reconstruction, Min Shao, Kenneth E. Barner, Russell C. Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

A class of partition-based interpolators that addresses a variety of image interpolation applications are proposed. The proposed interpolators first partition an image into a finite set of partitions that capture local image structures. Missing high resolution pixels are then obtained through linear operations on neighboring pixels that exploit the captured image structure. By exploiting the local image structure, the proposed algorithm produces excellent performance on both edge and uniform regions. The presented results demonstrate that partition-based interpolation yields results superior to traditional and advanced algorithms in the applications of color filter array (CFA) demosaicking and super-resolution reconstruction.


Super-Resolution Enhancement Of Digital Video, Russell C. Hardie, Richard R. Schultz, Kenneth E. Barner Mar 2015

Super-Resolution Enhancement Of Digital Video, Russell C. Hardie, Richard R. Schultz, Kenneth E. Barner

Russell C. Hardie

SR from digital video is a relatively new field, in only its third decade of existence. There is no doubt that as imaging sensor technologies, optical fabrication techniques, and computational algorithms mature, SR will find its way into digital video products such as cameras and digital cable set-top boxes. These papers on the fundamental SR topics of image registration, regularization, photometric diversity, detector nonuniformity, compression, optical design, and performance metrics serve as pioneers in the dynamic and evolving field of SR image reconstruction research and development. We are proud to present them to the image and video processing research community. …


Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction Technique For Focal-Plane Arrays Using Readout Architecture, Balaji Narayanan, Russell C. Hardie, Robert A. Muse Mar 2015

Scene-Based Nonuniformity Correction Technique For Focal-Plane Arrays Using Readout Architecture, Balaji Narayanan, Russell C. Hardie, Robert A. Muse

Russell C. Hardie

Spatial fixed pattern noise is a common and major problem in modern infrared imagers due to the nonuniform response of the photodiodes in the focal plane array of the imaging system. In addition, the nonuniform response of the readout and the digitization electronics, involved in multiplexing the signals from the photodiodes, causes further nonuniformity. In this paper, we describe a novel scene based nonuniformity correction algorithm that treats the aggregate nonuniformity in separate stages. Firstly, the nonuniformity from the readout amplifiers is corrected using knowledge of the readout architecture of the imaging system. In the second stage, the nonuniformity resulting …


High-Resolution Image Reconstruction From Digital Video By Exploitation Of Nonglobal Motion, Timothy Tuinstra, Russell Hardie Mar 2015

High-Resolution Image Reconstruction From Digital Video By Exploitation Of Nonglobal Motion, Timothy Tuinstra, Russell Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

Many imaging systems utilize detector arrays that do not sample the scene according to the Nyquist criterion. As a result, the higher spatial frequencies admitted by the optics are aliased. This creates undesirable artifacts in the imagery. Furthermore, the blurring effects of the optics and the finite detector size also degrade the image quality. Several approaches for increasing the sampling rate of imaging systems have been suggested in the literature. We propose an algorithm for resolution enhancement that exploits object motion in digital video sequences. Unlike previously defined techniques, we use an automated segmentation method to isolate rigid moving objects. …


Anomaly Detection In Hyperspectral Imagery: Comparison Of Methods Using Diurnal And Seasonal Data, Patrick C. Hytla, Russell C. Hardie, Michael T. Eismann, Joseph Meola Mar 2015

Anomaly Detection In Hyperspectral Imagery: Comparison Of Methods Using Diurnal And Seasonal Data, Patrick C. Hytla, Russell C. Hardie, Michael T. Eismann, Joseph Meola

Russell C. Hardie

The use of hyperspectral imaging is a fast growing field with many applications in the civilian, commercial and military sectors. Hyperspectral images are typically composed of many spectral bands in the visible and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum and have the potential to deliver a great deal of information about a remotely sensed scene. One area of interest regarding hyperspectral images is anomaly detection, or the ability to find spectral outliers within a complex background in a scene with no a priori information about the scene or its specific contents. Anomaly detectors typically operate by creating a statistical background …


Image Restoration Of Dispersion-Degraded Images From A Liquid-Crystal Beam Steerer, Ronald J. Broessel, Vince Dominic, Russell C. Hardie Mar 2015

Image Restoration Of Dispersion-Degraded Images From A Liquid-Crystal Beam Steerer, Ronald J. Broessel, Vince Dominic, Russell C. Hardie

Russell C. Hardie

Liquid-crystal arrays represents one of the first practical technologies capable of steering light by electronic control only. We use such a device to steer the field of view of a broadband imaging sensor. Unfortunately, dispersion degrades the image quality by smearing out details in the image and by introducing multiple diffraction orders (echoes) at the detector plane. We present a method to compensate for these unwanted effects and thus restore the broadband images obtained with the beam steerer. We use the beam-propagation method to find the wavelength-dependent impulse response, from which we determine the appropriate Wiener filter. When training data …


High-Resolution Image Reconstruction From A Sequence Of Rotated And Translated Frames And Its Application To An Infrared Imaging System, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard, John G. Bognar, Ernest E. Armstrong, Edward A. Watson Mar 2015

High-Resolution Image Reconstruction From A Sequence Of Rotated And Translated Frames And Its Application To An Infrared Imaging System, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard, John G. Bognar, Ernest E. Armstrong, Edward A. Watson

Russell C. Hardie

Some imaging systems employ detector arrays that are not sufficiently dense to meet the Nyquist criterion during image acquisition. This is particularly true for many staring infrared imagers. Thus, the full resolution afforded by the optics is not being realized in such a system. This paper presents a technique for estimating a high-resolution image, with reduced aliasing, from a sequence of undersampled rotated and translationally shifted frames. Such an image sequence can be obtained if an imager is mounted on a moving platform, such as an aircraft. Several approaches to this type of problem have been proposed in the literature. …


Joint Map Registration And High Resolution Image Estimation Using A Sequence Of Undersampled Images, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard, Ernest E. Armstrong Mar 2015

Joint Map Registration And High Resolution Image Estimation Using A Sequence Of Undersampled Images, Russell C. Hardie, Kenneth J. Barnard, Ernest E. Armstrong

Russell C. Hardie

n many imaging systems, the detector array is not sufficiently dense to adequately sample the scene with the desired field of view. This is particularly true for many infrared focal plane arrays. Thus, the resulting images may be severely aliased. This paper examines a technique for estimating a high-resolution image, with reduced aliasing, from a sequence of undersampled frames. Several approaches to this problem have been investigated previously. However, in this paper a maximum a posteriori (MAP) framework for jointly estimating image registration parameters and the high-resolution image is presented. Several previous approaches have relied on knowing the registration parameters …


Multiframe Adaptive Wiener Filter Super-Resolution With Jpeg2000-Compressed Images, Barath Narayanan Narayanan, Russell C. Hardie, Eric J. Balster Mar 2015

Multiframe Adaptive Wiener Filter Super-Resolution With Jpeg2000-Compressed Images, Barath Narayanan Narayanan, Russell C. Hardie, Eric J. Balster

Russell C. Hardie

Historically, Joint Photographic Experts Group 2000 (JPEG2000) image compression and multiframe super-resolution (SR) image processing techniques have evolved separately. In this paper, we propose and compare novel processing architectures for applying multiframe SR with JPEG2000 compression. We propose a modified adaptive Wiener filter (AWF) SR method and study its performance as JPEG2000 is incorporated in different ways. In particular, we perform compression prior to SR and compare this to compression after SR. We also compare both independent-frame compression and difference-frame compression approaches. We find that some of the SR artifacts that result from compression can be reduced by decreasing the …